The women of Zambra explore the songs of Judaica

They sing because their lives -- pulled in so many directions -- require playful release and simple joy.

For the 10 women of Zambra, song is not just a hobby. It's the thread that knots their lives into whole cloth, connecting them to each other and to women's struggles around the globe.

"Music is necessary," founder Therese Hall Johannesson said recently. "I've never not sung."

This Saturday, Johannesson and the other nine members of Zambra will present a concert at Temple Beth El in Aptos.

The concert will feature the a cappella choir singing songs from around the world, with a concentration in Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish songs in Hebrew, Yiddish and Ladino, a language from medieval Spain. Joining the group will be Klezmer musicians Laurie B. Tanenbaum on violin and Susan Wagner on accordion.

Many of the Judaic songs were arranged and researched by Zambra chorister Laura Reeve and Zambra co-founder Katie Loveless, who iterated that she also has a deep, physical need to sing.

"Maybe it's the deep breathing, the change in posture or using the muscles in my face and diaphragm, but when I don't sing, I miss it."

The brainchild of Johannesson, Zambra began in 1994.

"I had just finished my master's degree in social work and felt culturally, spiritually and artistically dry," Johannesson recalled. She saw a women's chorus as a way to merge her musical needs with her social work.

The first four years of the group were marked by social-political songs, a children's chorus and a large group of non-performing singers. But around 1998, the core Zambra performers found themselves sandwiched between children and aging parents and decided to distill the group. While only two singers have been replaced since then, the group's evolution continues.

Johannesson, for example, stepped down from being the group's director 10 years ago when she had twins. Since then, the women have shared the work.

"Zambra is a group process, an evolution," Loveless said. "We're all vested in it and it couldn't work other than by consensus."

Zambra musical arrangements and song choices mirror the specific members' voices, needs and knowledge -- perfect examples being Laura Reeve's family background in Sephardic music and Janet Herman's depth of musical knowledge via her doctorate in folklore and ethnomusicology.

Loveless, a principle arranger for the group, retools music to take advantage of the range of voices, making sure that each singer's lines carry the melody.

"I like singing harmony myself, so I want each harmony line to be a line you enjoy singing," she said.

Listeners agree that the most appealing aspects of the group are the variety of global rhythms and harmonies. Harmonic vibrations, Loveless said, are therapeutic; they change you and everything around you. Johannesson can attest to that on a personal level.

"When my boys were nursing, my husband and I would sing to them in harmony," she recalled. One night, when they were singing a sad Swedish lullabye, the twins began humming. "They were reaching for what vibrates in the harmonic," she said. "It's deeply satisfying to hear your voice vibrating in a different pitch to one beside you."

While the women must practice and train to make their vocal peculiarities mesh into a single song, they do the work with glad hearts.

"We bring consultants in and do a lot of warm-ups to add fluidity to our voices," Johannesson said.

"Fluidity is what we strive for -- in the interpretations of our lines and in the interpretations of our lives."

What's in a name?

As with their music, the members of Zambra chose their name because it represents more than a single language or culture.

A "zambra" is an Andalusian Gypsy dance, a Moorish festival, a Spanish celebration, an ancient Hebrew song and - since 1994 - a women's choir based in Santa Cruz.